“Dave Hartzell loves teaching, and his principal at Sterling Elementary says he’s one of her best.

But the birth of a baby and Hartzell’s desire to let his wife stay home with the child are forcing him out. After six years of teaching he earns about $36,000 a year in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools – and that’s almost $5,000 above the state minimum.”

I resigned from teacher this past October. I used to think it was terrible when a teacher left her students midway through a school year. I now understand why one would do so. With the pressures of low income, increased workload, extended work hours, mandatory after hour service, and lack of support from administration, I was pushed to my limit. Teaching has been my calling and I feel as if it has been stripped away from me. I can no longer sit idly by and be treated with such disrespect. I cannot afford to teach either financially or emotionally. It is truly heart-wrenching. Shame on North Carolina.

Tracy Morton, an Apex High School healthful living and physical education teacher, also said it’s not a political issue. She and her husband, Britt, also a PE teacher at Apex High, are leaving for higher-paying teaching positions in Georgia.

“We’re the future to society,” Tracy Morton said. “We allow that. We are teaching the doctors and the lawyers and the people that are going to take care of you in the future, all of that, anything that’s needed to run a society, no matter what the education level is needed.

Kelly Nystrom, a fifth-grade teacher, said she’s leaving the profession because the low pay isn’t enough to support her family. Nystrom said she’s getting $20,000 less a year than she made when she was a teacher in California 11 years ago.

I teach in Durham, and I love my kids. It pains me greatly to leave them, because they love me, too, and I know they will be devastated when they find out I’m leaving. But the reality is that I’m living paycheck to paycheck, rather than building a future for myself and my family, and I just can’t do it anymore. That\’s no way for an educated professional to live. Our profession is one of the most important roles in our whole society. It shouldn’t be treated like a shameful profession, but I feel shame when I look at my finances. I will continue teaching, because I love it and I care about the future of our nation, but I will do it elsewhere. The simple fact of the matter is that I could move 2 hours north or south to Virginia or South Carolina and get paid $20,000 a year more, which would be a more than 50% raise. With numbers like that, it\’s hard to see how any teacher in NC can justify staying. They do it for the kids, but no teacher should be asked to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of their children.

“The fact of the matter is that teachers have student loans, bills and families. I cannot count the number of times we have lamented the 20th of the month because we get paid on the 25th and no one has gas money. We borrow from our elementary aged children’s birthday stash to fill our gas tanks. We joke that pasta and butter are the staple in the house, but there is a cruel seriousness to it. We cancel doctor appointments because we can’t afford the co-pays. And this is NOT just the lament of new teacher on an unjustified pay scale. We are veteran teachers.”

“I was a teacher in Florida for ten years. My teaching career in North Carolina barely lasted a month. I did not decide to resign from my position because of horrific student behavior or abusive administrators. Quite the opposite, I was lucky enough to get a teaching position at a wonderful school with an amazingly supportive staff and sweet students. I resigned because I could not afford to be a teacher in North Carolina and recent laws passed by the Legislature made it clear that I wouldnever be able toafford to be a teacher in this state.”

“‘I feel guilty,’ said Gable, who is quitting his job on November 26 and leaving his beloved Asheville for a more promising financial future teaching in Columbus, Ohio. There, he figures he’ll make close to $30,000 more than his current salary, which is $38,000 for ten years’ experience and a master’s degree.”

“I loved the classroom when it was just My students, THEIR love of learning, and ME. That’s REAL, that’s AUTHENTIC, THAT IS ALIVE. I had an obligation to impart a passion for learning, not just grades. I took seriously my responsibility to build skills, ignite curiosity, and grow my students intellectually – to hold my students as accountable to their progress as I held myself – not merely to answer A-B-C-D or None of the Above.”